If you take a look on the pangolin forums (which was linked to in a thread I started last month about this particular instance of ruining my DLP projector) I believe that it was Bill that stated the first time he heard the DLP accusations they went out and bought a DLP projector and intentionally ruined it. I believe the report said that even a lower power laser can damage the projector. 500mw is more than sufficient and 1watt would cause almost instant damage. I never noticed a static beam on the lens, there was always an image being projected. The lens of the projector could not have taken up more than a half of a percent of my projection zone on my 800mw 532nm.
It is real! Be careful - its not a pleasant experience trying to have a nice night watching a movie with your significant other and find that you have a nice burn in your projector making a nice standard looking graphical X and Y layout - with the burn origin at well the origin [0,0]
I'll load up some pictures of it on the thread I mentioned above. Regarding the 1.2gb zip - I would like to DL it! I need to get the photon fix I have not been able to satisfy recently.
-Max